APPENDIX C 



GLOSSARY 



benthic--Pertaining to the subaquatic bottom. 



benthos--A collective term describing: (1) Bottom organisms attached 

 or resting on or in the bottom. (2) Community of animals living in 

 or on the bottom. 



berm--A nearby horizontal part of the beach or backshore formed by the 

 deposit of material by wave action. « 



biomass--The amount of living material in a unit area for a unit of 

 time. Also, standing crop, standing stock, live weight, dried weight. 



community--An assortment of animals and plants of several different 

 species that are found in a certain environment such as rocky outer 

 coast or a muddy bay bottom. 



core--A square or circular plug taken from the bottom by a hollow round 

 or square tube. 



confidence limits--A measure of reliability of the estimated parameter. 

 The limits that probably will not be exceeded at a given level of 

 probability are the confidence limits. 



cusping--The formation of a series of low mounds, of beach material sep- 

 arated by crescent-shaped troughs spaced at more Or less regular 

 intervals along the beach face. 



data--Factual information used as a basis for reasoning or inference. 



diversity—Diversity (H") is a single statistic in which the number of 

 species and evenness are combined. Diversity is high if there are 

 many species and their abundance is more or less even. Low diversity 

 results when species are few and abundance uneven. Care must be 

 exercised in using this statistic as a collection with few species but 

 high evenness can have the same value as a collection with many species 

 and low evenness (see Shannon-Weaver Index) . 



endofauna--Benthic animals in the bottom. 



epifauna--Animals that live on the surface of the bottom specifically, 

 any encrusting fauna. 



evenness—Describes the relative abundance of the individuals of each 

 species; e.g., if all species in the population have equal numbers of 

 individuals, the evenness will be at its maximum. As the disparities 

 among the abundances increase, the evenness approaches zero (see also J) 



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